As a culinary arts senior, I have heard numerous times that culinary “is a joke major” or “an easy curriculum.” I am here today to set the record straight. Culinary Arts is science. It is an art. And it is major equal to all others.
Many people have the impression that all culinary majors do is cook. I wish that were true. However, for those enrolled in the culinary arts program here or at any of the other 27 schools offering a four-year culinary arts degree, they know first-hand the amount of work involved in obtaining this prestigious degree — it is the profession that feeds all others.
In all of the four-year culinary arts degrees, students are required to take natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, math, restaurant management and actual culinary classes. Most even require foreign languages, computer science courses, general business courses, personal development courses and/or externships. However, students end up taking more than the required amount of credit hours to be as prepared as they can at graduation for their new work setting.
“I am an artist at heart and cooking is an edible medium,” Mike Chancey, a culinary arts senior from Houma who is working on a minor in art, said.
Also, Mike and a group of other culinary students traveled to Italy this summer for an in depth study of true Italian cuisine. Many even stayed to work in restaurants in Italy after their classes were over.
Also, most culinary students do not go to culinary school in order to learn how to cook; they can learn that while working in a restaurant or watching Food Network. What they come to school for is to be able to run a restaurant kitchen or open up their own restaurants one day. Anyone can cook; it takes an educated individual to be a chef.
The life of an average culinary student is just as important as what he learns. Those enrolled in culinary classes, and those soon to be, have or will find out that unlike other majors, where students sit in a classroom, take notes and then leave, culinary students form a lifelong friendship with not only their professors but also with each other. It can come to resemble a family. Students help each other find jobs and become study partners.
However, a since of doom is always lurking overhead. There is always the project that is not quite finished, the catering job coming up, or the practical examination that one is not quite ready for. On this note, a culinary student’s real education is on how to manage time, both inside the classroom and out.
There are many benefits to culinary school, though. A student never has to worry about where his next meal is coming from. “One of the best things about culinary school is that you get to eat your class-work; one of the worst things about culinary school is that sometimes you have to eat your class-work,” According to Randy Cheramie, associate professor in the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute.
From class-work to outside projects, a culinary student’s life contains enough for any one person to remain busy. Then there is the job that most students try to hold down in order to gain more education and have some real work experience. Now, those who said culinary was not a real major might want to look again and possibly re-examine their own chosen field.